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High Hopes for GHG's Hempcrete at Building Summit in Austin

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By Jean Lotus
 
Attendees at the U.S. Hemp Building Summit in Austin, Texas, last month got a sneak peek of some of the new products and services in the works in the hemp building and construction world for 2022.
 
Hemp building pioneers revealed new prototypes, plans and processes as the hemp building industry ramps up. The industrial hemp plant was legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill following 80 years of prohibition.
 
New hemp-based construction materials and services on the scene will include imported hemp blocks, decking, insulation products, hemp building classes and multiple new regional processing centers popping up across the country.

Hempcrete masterclass, online carbon footprint tracker
 
Hemp Building summit keynote speaker, Canadian natural builder and carbon expert Chris Magwood has been busy promoting educational and policy output going into 2022.
 
The author of one of the foremost hemp building books is starting 2022 with an online Hempcrete Masterclass in January through his nonprofit sustainable building school Endeavor Centre in Peterborough, Ontario. Magwood also co-authored a Microsoft-financed report by the Carbon Leadership Forum advising the company to build new data centers with hemp and/or other natural materials.
 
Magwood and nonprofit Builders for Climate Action have mapped out the steps to achieve net-zero carbon homes with Natural Resources Canada and will be rolling out the BEAM carbon footprint calculator in 2022 which can calculate embodied carbon in a building based on building materials.
 
In 2022, Magwood will publish a new book, Build Beyond Zero: New Ideas for Carbon-Smart Architecture.
 
Hempcrete installation faster, more affordable
 
Using a spray-apply system for hempcrete insulation has led to a democratization of hemp insulation allowing more projects to be finished faster and more efficiently, said Cameron McIntosh, of Pennsylvania-based Americhanrvre. Projects are completed in 60% less time and take 6-8 weeks to cure, as opposed to several months.
 
“This will lighten our reliance on fossil fuels and make our existing home inventory healthier,” he said.
 
McIntosh, a hemp insulation subcontractor, licensed the EREASY spray system from a French manufacturer and completed 10 different projects in six states in 2021, he said. All of those projects required hemp hurd and binder sourced from France, but In 2022, the EREASY will be manufactured in the United States, and sold by Americhanvre, along with a local binder from U.S. lime available in 2023, he said.
 

Jean Lotus is publisher of HempBuild Magazine. [e-mail]